Warcraft: Lightning Chronicles
by BahamutReishiki
Summary: She was supposed to be erased from history after saving Cocoon but something else intervened and changed her fate. Now Lightning is forced to travel across Azeroth as she desperately searches for a way home.
1. Chapter 1: An End and a Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Final Fantasy XIII or World of Warcraft, they are owned by Square Enix and Blizzard respectively. Any original characters in my story do belong to me and can be used with my permission. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello: Normal Speech

_Hello_: Normal Thought, flashback

**Hello**: Speech of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

_**Hello**_: Thoughts of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**Here is the first chapter of my Final Fantasy XIII x World of Warcraft crossover. It won the overwhelming majority of the votes and, to be honest, I really wanted to do this story. I was growing a tad bit tired writing seven story lines at once and wanted to try my hand at a single-person narrative and so this story popped into my mind. So sit back and enjoy the story.**

* * *

**Warcraft: Lightning Chronicles**

**Chapter 1: The End of One Journey is the Beginning of Another**

_.  
_

_On that day more than one miracle occurred,_

_Fang and Vanille's sacrifice saved Cocoon._

_The darkness was supposed to write me out of history but something changed,_

_I was dragged off to a strange new world filled with such wonders,_

_But beneath every light must lie a darkness…_

All Lightning could see as she regained consciousness was darkness. Blinking and opening her eyes she saw that she was resting in a strange and unfamiliar room.

"_Where am I?"_ she thought as she laid her head back down on the pillow and looked at the flickering shadows cast upon the ceiling by the candles across the room_, "The last thing I remember is seeing Serah and…"_

"Serah!" she exclaimed as her memories finally returned.

* * *

...

* * *

**Flashback**

_Lightning stared at the crystallized remains of Cocoon with a mixture of contempt and sorrow. After everything that had happened they had had finally managed to triumph over the fal'Cie Orphan and stop his plan of summoning Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon and the millions of people living within it, but it wasn't without cost. Destroying Orphan killed the remaining fal'Cie on the artificial planet and caused it to start plummeting to the ground far below. It was only due to the sacrifice of Fang and Vanille, who transformed into Ragnarok to hold Cocoon atop a giant crystal pillar that she could reminisce. _

_She clenched a fist until she was almost certain she drew blood. It just wasn't fair. Fang and Vanille sacrificed themselves to save the rest of them and she still didn't even get to see Serah again._

"_Still thinking about them miss soldier?"_

_She inclined her head slightly as Sazh walked up to her, "Yeah…"_

_Despite the situation Sazh had a smile on his face, "I don't know why you're depressed. They all knew what the stakes were and still they insisted on going through with it. I think they accepted that we all weren't going to get out of that mess alive. If it weren't for them, well, I don't want to think about that."_

"_I don't think I can ever feel happy."_

"_Oh?_

_She looked back at the remains of Cocoon and grimaced, "First Serah and now Fang and Vanille are gone. Everybody sacrificing themselves to save a 'paradise' that was destined to fall anyway."_

_Sazh looked downtrodden, "Yeah. Dajh is still up there somewhere in that crystal of his but I don't know if I want to find out if he made it. Sure I will know for sure but what if something happened to him? A father shouldn't know that he outlived his son. I'll live the rest of my life uncertain but it's better than the alternative."_

_Lightning didn't know where the words were coming from but they just seemed to come out of her mouth naturally, "I'm sure that wherever he is Dajh is proud of you. You did everything you could to protect your home from the fal'Cie. I think he would understand."_

"_You really think a six year old is capable of understanding what we went through?" he joked._

_She shook her head, "No, but he would see his father as a hero."_

_Sazh perked up and chuckled, "You know miss soldier, you aren't as cold as you were when we first met."_

_She gave him a look of mock annoyance, "What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Well, you haven't threatened to punch me yet."_

_She looked away from Sazh and back at Cocoon, her thoughts constantly revolving around her sister. She stood there for several minutes when she noticed a figure running towards them in the distance and as it got closer she noticed it was Snow. He must have been running for a while because when he finally reached them he had to rest on his hands and knees to regain his breath._

"_Sazh…sis…something…"_

"_Whoa there big fella. Catch your breath first. We can't understand a word you're saying."_

"_How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that?"_

_Snow just shook his head as he stood back up with a grunt, "They're back!"_

"_Who's back?"_

_A large smile broke out across his face as he first looked at Lightning and then Sazh, "Serah and your kid! Hope and I saw them walking away from the pillar not more than ten minutes ago. I told him to wait for them while I went to get you."_

_Her mind seemed to screech to a halt as Snow's words caught up to her. Mouthing 'Serah' she shoved Snow aside and ran down the path he came from towards the crystal pillar. As she sprinting across the plains and up and down hills her lungs felt like them were on fire and her legs ached from exhaustion but she did not care, her sister had waited long enough for her. Racing up the final hill she broke out into her first true smile in weeks because standing a short distance away holding Dajh's hand and talking to Hope was her sister, looking just as she remembered her. As she stood on top of that hill Serah finally noticed her._

"_Lightning!"_

_Serah gave Dajh to Hope as she ran towards her sister. So focused was she on her approaching sister that Lightning didn't see the earth start to split open in front of her, she only found out when she saw Serah's expression change from joy to terror. The splitting earth was now more like a crack and it was getting wider by the second._

"_Serah!" Lightning shouted while sprinting towards her sister, her arm outstretched. She was not going to let something like this prevent her from reuniting with her sister. Not after all she had gone through._

_Even with all her training Lightning was too slow to reach her sister before the gap in the ground became too large to jump. She watched in horror as Serah almost fell in only for Hope to grab her arm and drag her away. Realizing that there was no way to reach her sister now and with her own safety in jeopardy Lightning began to run away from the chasm. Quickly stepping around the breaking ground beneath her feet Lighting was shocked to discover that a crack had already formed behind her and that she was effectively trapped._

_Seeing Sazh and Snow watching her from the other side she kicked her speed up a notch and shouted, "Grab my hand!"_

"_Is miss soldier going to do what I think she's doing?"_

_Lightning leapt the chasm in an impressive burst of speed and almost made it across by herself. She just realized she wasn't going to make it when she felt a strong hand wrap around her wrist._

_Snow grunted as he tried to pull Lightning up, "I won't let you fall sis!"_

"_Hang on Lightning!" Sazh said while grabbing her other hand, "I'm not going to let you die now. It would just be pathetic."_

"_Yeah," Snow agreed as they managed to almost pull her out, "Besides, if you die who will give her blessings to my marriage?"_

_Suddenly the ground around them started to crumble, forcing Sazh and Snow to let go of her hands unless they wanted to fall in as well. Gripping the edge of the chasm with all her strength, Lightning knew she was not going to make it. As her fingers started to slip she looked at Snow._

"_Take care of Serah."_

"_Lightning!" Snow cried as he tried to reach down to save her. He was too late as Lightning lost her grip and fell into the ravine._

"_Is this the way I go?" she thought as she closed her eyes, "Dying right before reuniting with my sister? Someone has a bad sense of humor."_

_After several seconds Lightning frowned in confused when she didn't feel her life ending. Opening her eyes she found herself assaulted by swirling colors of red and green, mixing together every now and then before winking out of existence._

"_What is this place? Where am I?"_

_She continued falling when she saw something approach her in the distance. Squinting to get a better look she was stunned to find it was a massive human-like being made out of silver and with glowing golden eyes._

"_Is that a fal'Cie?"_

_The being seemed to hear her as it turned its head towards Lightning. Under its' stare she found herself but a mere child and could not help but stare back. After a few moments it turned and disappeared into the darkness._

"_Wait!" Lightning yelled to the being but it was too late for it was gone. Alone again she suddenly found herself losing consciousness and tried to fight it as long as possible. Just before she blacked out she saw a white light in the distance growing ever closer._

"_Etro's Gate?"_

* * *

...

* * *

As everything came back to her Lightning smashed her fist into the nearby wall in anger. _"Is my entire life just some eternal joke to some greater being? Why is it whenever I am happy something comes along and tears me down again? If whoever is doing this can hear me just kill me already."_

She waited a few minutes hopeful that something will happen but as time dragged on and nothing happened she sadly whispered, "I guess simply hoping isn't going to be enough."

Pulling the blankets off her body Lightning noticed for the first time that she was no longer in her Guardian Corps uniform but in a long, plain white gown. She scoffed and looked around the room and was surprised to find her clothes, cleaned and neatly folded, on top of a table. Removing the gown to get changed she was shocked to see her l'Cie brand emblazoned on her chest.

"Why has this returned?" she asked as she traced the brand with her fingers, "I thought it was removed when I finished my focus and the color is entirely wrong, I don't remember it being silver and blue."

"_Perhaps it has something to do with why I'm here but now is not the time to think about that. I need to find out where I am and how to get home."_

She put on her uniform and was just finishing buckling her boots when she noticed her gunblade was missing. A cursory glance around the room told her that wherever it was, it was not here.

"…don't know about this."

A male voice outside her room caused her to stop searching for her weapon. If he was hostile and decided to come in she would be defenseless. Carefully making her way to the door, she leaned an ear against the wood and tried to eavesdrop on whoever was out there.

"_Perhaps I can get some useful information about my situation."_

A second voice, this one female, seemed to be frustrated with the man, "I already told you reagent, I cannot in good conscience release her to your custody."

Lightning leaned away from the door for a second as she processed what was said, _"Are they talking about me?"_

The man seemed to be annoyed; "It is dangerous to keep someone like her here. If you give her to me I will make sure she is well taken care of until she regains consciousness."

"She is not a criminal! She doesn't deserve to be treated as one."

"Come now Laurena, people just don't fall out of the sky."

"According to the people who brought her in that is exactly what happened," Laurena argued.

The man seemed incensed, "And you believe them? My job is to protect this city from all threats, both internal and external. The only times people appear out of nowhere are if they come out of a portal. All the portals coming into or leaving the city are strictly monitored by several trained mages. If she did come out of a portal, there are a couple of obvious answers as to her identity."

"Are you saying she's a demon?"

"Calm down, I'm not implying anything."

Laurena huffed and Lightning could almost feel the tension in the air thicken even through the door, "I suppose Bolvar, that you conveniently forgot that we are in a place filled with paladins and priests? If she was a demon surely any number of them would sense her, no matter how skilled she was at masking her presence."

Bolvar grumbled in defeat, "I can see that I may have been hasty in my declaration. I suppose leaving her in the your care until she wakes might be the best option."

"You might need to wait a while. I cannot see her regaining consciousness for at least another couple of days."

"Just let me know the minute she is awake. I don't know who she is or how she got here but I will find out one way or another."

"Remember Bolvar, violence is not permitted in this place."

Lightning stepped away from the door and went over her options, _"Whoever these people are don't know who I am but see me as a threat. I can use that to my advantage if I ever get confronted. If I wait a few minutes for them to walk away I can leave and figure out where I am exactly." _She reached to where her gunblade usually was and cursed when she remembered it wasn't there.

"_Figures I would be weaponless at a time like this."_

Gripping the handle of the door she was surprised when she discovered it wasn't locked. They obviously thought she would not be awake for a while and so did not presume to lock the door.

"_That is their first mistake."_

Counting to five and taking a deep breath, Lightning opened the door and was almost blinded by how bright it was. After giving her eyes a moment to adjust she walked out of the room and looked around. It wasn't hard to conclude that she was in some type of church or perhaps a cathedral based on the overall size and scope of the structure.

"_This is one of the larger cathedrals I have ever seen,"_ she thought as she walked towards the altar in the back of the cathedral, _"Cocoon had them but they were mostly historical buildings from some of the early religions. Even with the fal'Cie giving us everything some people still chose to believe in a divine power. Perhaps this place is not as different as I initially thought."_

Lightning's eyes lingered several minutes on each of the stained glass windows. One of the windows depicting several purple-skinned people fighting the stereotypical demons, a second showed humans fighting bigger green-skinned creatures and a third showed several people confronting a single person who appeared to be shooting lightning out of his hands.

"_It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to assume these are either historical events or important segments of their mythology."_

"I see you are awake."

She slightly turned her head just enough so she could get a look at the person talking to her. The voice was that of the man outside her room and she was perplexed as to why he was equipped in a full set of medieval armor. That just made it harder for her if he decided to attack. She was well versed in hand-to-hand combat but she would have some difficultly fighting someone in full armor, especially in hostile territory.

Tch'ing, Lightning looked away, "Do you make it a habit of sneaking up on people?"

"Technically it is not sneaking if I simply walked up to you."

"Whatever," she muttered as she attempted to walk away. Without her gunblade she was a sitting duck and therefore needed to find another weapon or way to defend herself until she managed to find a way home.

Bolvar seemed to not particularly care for Lightning walking away from him, "And just where do you think you are going?"

"To find out where I am and how to get out of being here."

"I could help you with that."

She coldly chuckled, "I seriously doubt you could help me with anything. If what you said earlier is any indication you are entirely clueless about me."

"What about your strange weapon? Don't you want it back?"

Lightning pivoted around so fast she thought she might trip on her own feet, "How dare you!"

"I don't take kindly to any threats to this city. If that means I have to be a hard-ass and have everyone hate me then so be it. Now then, if you speak civilized with me I promise I will return your weapon to you."

"_He's got me in a corner. I don't particularly like him but he knows where my gunblade is."_

"Fine then," she hissed and leaned against a wall. Crossing her arms she waved an arm dismissively, "Ask your questions and be done with it."

Bolvar seemed to be trying very hard to choose his question carefully, "Why don't we start with how you got here."

"That's an easy one," she scoffed, "I have no idea."

"You must have some idea? You can't seriously be trying to convince me you ended up in Stormwind completely by accident?"

She looked out the open cathedral doors to the city outside, "I don't have to convince you of anything."

"If you want your weapon back you do. You seem strangely attached to it."

"That weapon has been with me through thick and thin. Parting with it without it breaking isn't right."

"Ah," Bolvar said in understanding, "You must be quite the accomplished warrior to have developed such an attachment for your weapon. Most of the adventurers roaming the world are rather green and simply pick the biggest weapon they can find."

Lightning scoffed and Bolvar could have sworn he heard her mutter 'fucking novices even here.' Coughing and trying to ignore the harsh language from the woman in front of him he decided to ask a rather simple question, "I don't believe you told me your name."

"…"

Bolvar waited for Lightning to respond but he noticed she was staring into the distance. After waiting patiently for her to answer his question he decided to ask it again a bit more forcefully, "I asked you-"

"It's Lightning."

A confused look graced the reagent's face, "What kind of name is Lightning?"

_Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys._

She shook her head to forget about the memory, "It's all you need to know."

"Well then," Bolvar said, "What do you remember about how you got here?"

"Is this where you have been the past few days Bolvar?"

Lightning turned and looked outside. Walking towards here was a dark haired woman in a dark red dress with piercing blue eyes. She walked towards the two of them before focusing her glare entirely on Lightning who, to her credit, did not back down and returned the stare.

After a moment the woman chuckled and turned to Bolvar, "Well your tastes are improving to say the least. You need to return to the castle, Anduin is getting restless about his training. You would think the prince would be a little less reckless but I suppose like father like son."

Lightning couldn't stand listening to this woman anymore, "Who is this woman pestering us?"

The reactions of the two were quite priceless if Lightning would ever admit it. Bolvar was stuck between trying to hold in his laughter while trying to look upset. Katrana Prestor, on the other hand, seemed like she was about ready to breathe fire.

"How dare you!"

Lightning ignored her, "You asked about how I got here?"

Coughing as he attempted to prevent his laughter from being found out by his associate Bolvar quickly said, "Yes."

"Very well then." Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Lightning looked at the ceiling, "I guess I should start where the world was ending."

Her rage at the insult momentarily forgotten, Katrana saw an opportunity to get back at the woman in front of her, "What caused this 'world ending event' that you believe happened?"

She shrugged, "Best reason I can figure out is a combination of immortality and nihilism. Thousands of years ago immortal mechanical beings known as fal'Cie were creating to protect humanity."

"Created by who?"

"It depends on whether you believe in the myths but in the end that doesn't really matter. Whatever the case, their creator left them for some unknown reason and for a while everything was fine. They protected humanity from the dangers of Gran Pulse, our world, but eventually they grew despondent and lonely. Wanting to see their creator so badly they devised a plan centuries in the making. They first created an artificial paradise that hovered over Gran Pulse and inviting humanity to it promising to protect them from the harshness of the world below."

"An artificial paradise doesn't sound so terrible."

Lightning glared at Katrana, "Then you are just like all the people who ever lived on Cocoon. The fal'Cie brought tens of thousands of people to their world that they called Cocoon and waited. For hundreds of years and despite many setbacks they waited and watched as the population increased before making their move. They attempted to guide several people, including myself, into killing them and crashing Cocoon into the world below and killing millions of people."

"By the Light!" Bolvar exclaimed, "That cannot possibly be true! To plan out the deaths of millions of people is just..."

"Inconceivable?" Lightning offered, "I'm not going to tell you everything because you don't need to know but I will tell you that the fal'Cie were created without the ability to kill themselves or other fal'Cie. They needed to have humans kill them and there was one particular fal'Cie that was hoping to be killed – Orphan."

"What kind of name is Orphan?"

"The name doesn't matter, if Orphan was ever killed Cocoon would fall. It was the power source of everything including the means by which it floated above the planet."

After a few minutes of shock Bolvar slowly said, "That is a lot to take in. I don't know whether you're telling the truth or are delusional."

Lightning scoffed and held her hand out to him, "I don't really care if you believe me or not, my only goal is to find a way back home. Now where is my weapon?"

Bolvar snapped his fingers and a person in armor walked out of a nearby room with a bundle of cloth carried over their shoulders. With a nod from him, the guard gave the bundle to Lightning who unwrapped it and was stunned to discover it was her Blazefire Saber.

"Is something the matter?"

She shook her head, "No, it's nothing."

"_Why is it the Blazefire Saber model?"_

"You have an interesting weapon Miss Lightning. While you were unconsciousness I had some of my men take a look at it with orders to not damage it. The most they could find out is that it is made from an unknown and very strong metal and that it is much more complicated than just a simple sword but they couldn't figure out how it worked."

"Indeed," Lightning said as she went over her gunblade inch by inch looking for any damage. When she concluded everything was intact she flicked her wrist in a particular motion and the blade collapsed down into its gun form, which she then holstered in the sheath on her waist.

"Extraordinary," Bolvar said with wonder before noticing Lightning about to leave, "Wait! I could use your help with a matter of utmost importance."

She didn't turn around, "I don't care. I didn't leave one military just to end up joining another. My only purpose now is to figure out a way to get back to my sister. Nothing else matters."

Lightning continued to walk away, her cape fluttering in the breeze. Katrana Prestor watched her leave with a mixture of distain and contempt, "What is so interesting about this woman that you put up with her attitude Bolvar? Isn't it obvious she has inclination to return your more then generous hospitality?"

"Perhaps," he conceded, "But there may be something we can use to our advantage."

Katrana continued to look at Lightning's retreating figure, "What could we have that she might be remotely interested in."

"Simple. A way home."

Lightning had just reached the bottom of the steps outside the cathedral when Bolvar's words reached her. Turning around she coldly stared at Bolvar as he and Katrana approached her, "What are you saying?"

Bolvar walked up to her, "It is just as I said miss Lightning. If you listen to what I have to say and then agree to at least help then I will make some inquiries with some of the foremost mage and warlock experts on portals and teleportation across Azeroth. In fact I think Jaina Proudmoore should find this task very intriguing if she is not currently busy."

Even with his reassurances about offering his assistance Lightning was not convinced, _"I doubt anyone here knows the slightest bit about Etro's Gate. Still, I really don't have a choice in the matter. This may be my best shot at returning home. Wait for me Serah…"_

"I suppose you give me little choice. I will listen to you but I will not agree until you have explained everything. Agreeing to do something before knowing the entire picture is the sign of a fool."

Bolvar seemed to be relieved that she decided to listen to him, "Since you do not like to mince words I will get straight to the point, Stormwind is in a dire situation despite what Katrana here might say. We are being besieged on all sides by threats both inside and outside the kingdom. There is the Defias Brotherhood who forcefully annexed Westfall to the west, the orcs assaulting Redridge Mountains to the east and the undead encroaching upon the Duskwoods to the south. Stormwind is becoming a single light surrounded by darkness.

"I don't understand how this has anything to do with me."

"I thought you would understand where I am going with this. I cannot in good faith deploy the army to fight these threats without exposing the city and leaving it defenseless. Therefore I have taken to offering rewards to the mercenary groups that call themselves guilds to fight these threats directly. If and when they bring back proof that they have eliminated a threat to the kingdom I reward them handsomely."

"So I'm so much a soldier as a hired gun?"

"While guilds do get paid most of them are not in it for the money. The one you are going to help do what they do because they want to."

Lightning turned away in thought. If he had said she would be a mercenary she would have walked away right there and then, "Where do I meet this guild?"

"You will not meet them just yet," Bolvar said while he and Katrana walked past her, "First we are going to see just how skilled you actually are."

* * *

...

* * *

It was some time later that Lightning found herself standing in the middle of some type of training grounds. Her passage through the city was eventful to say the least. It seemed that whoever found her had told as many people about the 'woman who fell from the sky' and so she was accosted along her entire route. Even with Bolvar and the men he picked up along the way doing their best to keep the crowds away Lightning had found her fingers itching to take her gunblade and run it through a few of the more persistent people.

Now at the training grounds and with more than a few soldiers standing guard at the entrance to prevent anyone from entering Lightning found herself relaxing slightly. She was a soldier through and through so standing in the middle of this training facility, primitive it may be, still made her feel somewhat back to normal.

"_This is just a stepping stone to returning home, nothing more."_

Bolvar swept his arm out, "This is the training ground of SI:7, one of the more active branches in the Alliance military. I know that this isn't the best place but is should suffice for what we need to do."

"What is this Alliance you mentioned?"

"Oh right, I forgot you aren't exactly from around here. The alliance is composed of four kingdoms that band together to protect our interests against the Horde that, whether other people like it or not, functions the same way against us."

Lightning nodded in agreement but she couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't telling her everything, "What is it you need me to do?"

"In order to ascertain your skills and abilities I am going to have you spar against several of my men in various combat settings ranging from hand-to-hand combat to weapons."

"Tch, whatever."

She watched as a soldier walked forward and picked up one a sword from one of the weapon racks and gave it a few experimental swings. Scoffing at the pointlessness of this spar Lightning hooked a finger through the trigger of her gunblade and in one quick motion unsheathed and transformed it into its blade form. As she did so several excited whispers rang through the people watching the match. Holding her left arm bent in front of her body and her gunblade behind her she prepared herself for combat.

"Let's see what you got."

Bolvar looked between Lightning and her opponent, "Are both combatants ready? Begin!"

Lightning had to give the soldier credit as he ran at her. He was very fast on his feet even in all that armor. _"Not fast enough though,"_ she thought as she pivoted on her left foot just as he reached her and attempted to strike her gunblade near the grip and force her to drop it.

She easily avoided the attack and countered with several quick strikes that forced him to backpedal and defend himself, _"Amateurish move at best, no veteran will fall for such a gimmick. Since he feels like treating me as a novice I will just have to show him who he is dealing with."_

Foregoing her gunblade for a moment Lightning closed the distance and grabbed the soldier's wrist before twisting it sharply and causing him to drop his blade. Letting go of him Lightning scoffed as she watched him glance between her and his sword.

"Your grip is far too weak. If this were a real battle you would already be dead. Now retrieve your weapon and try again."

The soldier knelt down to pick up his weapon and immediately rushed Lightning hoping to surprise her but to his shock she looked bored, as if she expected such a tactic.

"Tch."

With a resounding clang his sword met her gunblade in a deadlock. As he attempted to put more strength and overpower her, the soldier realized in horror that for all the effort he was putting in Lightning had not budged once. Apart from her slightly trembling arms she didn't seem to be trying very hard. Shouting he pushed away from Lightning and attempted to overwhelm her with lightning fast jabs and strikes but every time he went in to attack Lightning was already there blocking and parrying. This exchange continued for several minutes until the soldier was about to fall from exhaustion.

Lightning observed the tired soldier in front her of. She would never admit it but he has some skill with a sword and would go very far with the proper training but unfortunately this was a spar and so she needed to end this.

"Something to remember me by."

Quicker then the onlookers thought she should be able to move Lightning stabbed her gunblade into the ground and ran at the soldier who was too tired to put up an effective defense. Spinning around his meager block Lightning slammed her elbow into his armored stomach. Usually such a move would at best only disorient him for a few seconds due to his armor but this time was different, Lightning hit him with enough force to dent the armor inwards and cause him to collapse onto the ground out of breath and in pain.

She scoffed and retrieved her gunblade; "If I were you I would not waste time in removing him from him armor. It's pressing down on his diaphragm and preventing him from breathing correctly."

Lightning holstered her gunblade as she watched several soldiers rush by her to help their fallen comrade. Turning to Bolvar, who seemed to be unable to decide between being impressed or angry with her, she said, "Your soldier was fairly skilled with that sword and given enough time could be great but it was still not enough to pose a threat to me."

"This was supposed to be a simple spar to assess your abilities miss Lightning. He would not have been expected to go full out against you."

"It's Lightning, not miss Lightning and while that may have been true in the beginning if you had actually been watching you would have seen his tactics change. Immediately after I disarmed him I am willing to bet he felt humiliated and wanted revenge. All of his strikes after that were meant to draw blood or cause massive injuries."

He glared at her, "While that may be the case, and he will be punished accordingly for disobeying orders, it still does not condone that final strike."

Lightning simply looked at him, "I trust that was enough of a demonstration or do I need to continue having these idiotic matches?"

"While I would have preferred you fighting several more opponents I cannot afford to have some of my better men bedridden for any length of time so as much as it pains me I will have to trust that you are competent enough in your abilities to do what needs to be done."

"Great," she responded sarcastically, "What do I need to do again?"

Bolvar sighed in frustration. He didn't know how much more he could deal with Lightning's attitude and the worst part was that it was so much like Katrana's that it wasn't even funny. He could only imagine in horror what would happen if they were to become friends.

"I told you before that you would be working with a guild on some of their more risky missions. While I would have preferred you start with something smaller such as raiding bandit camps or destroying some of the undead to the south I realized that would just be a severe waste of your talent. Talent that can and should be used where it would do the most good."

"I take it this is the woman you were so adamant I meet?"

"Ah yes, Lightning this is Bylena Moonstrike, a night elf. She is the official liaison between her guild and Stormwind."

Lightning was surprised, to say the least, about the woman in front of her. She stood at an impressive seven feet tall and had purple skin and glowing silver eyes. The woman walked towards her before letting out a chuckle.

"So you must be the hotshot I heard the humans talking about as I waited outside. I must say, based upon their stunned reactions and the injured soldier resting on the ground behind you must have some skill. What is your opinion here Bolvar?"

He rubbed his chin as he spoke, "While her…personality is not the best she does have what it takes to be of use to your guild."

Bylena clapped her hands, "Very well then. Follow me and I will brief you on your first mission."

Lightning hated having to look up at the night elf. She only hoped not everyone on this world was so tall, "It better not be something asinine."

"Nothing like that. If Bolvar vouches for you then you are already qualified to go on any of our missions."

As she followed in step behind her something crossed Lightning's mind, "Does your guild even have a name?"

She scoffed, "Guilds around Azeroth focus on many different things besides fighting. There are some that focus only on gathering rare and valuable materials that they sell exclusively to other guilds that make rare weapons and armors, others defend Alliance territory from Horde encroachment and then there are the adventuring guilds. Most people tend to stay away from the last type because of the high death rate but that is what makes it so worth doing."

"So what is it?"

Bylena looked somberly over the canal running parallel to the street, "The first guildmaster wanted a name that invoked a sense of pride. He said that he wanted the guild to be the last bastion of light in the dark; we would stand tall as our friends collapsed around us until our very last breath. We are the first and final line of defense against our enemies."

"We are Final Fantasy."

* * *

...

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Chapter 1 is done and I think I got Lightning's personality down pat. Sure she is a little arrogant and rude but she was just about to reunite with her sister when she was dragged to Azeroth so her behavior can be excused. As for the guild name, I had to choose something so I picked an obvious choice but since this is among the first FFXIII x WoW crossovers on the site I do believe I have some leeway.  
**

**Please read and review this story! I want to know your opinions on whether it is worth continuing or not.**

_**~Bahamut_Reishiki**_


	2. Chapter 2: Descent through Blackrock

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Final Fantasy XIII or World of Warcraft, they are owned by Square Enix and Blizzard respectively. Any original characters in my story do belong to me and can be used with my permission. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello: Normal Speech

_Hello_: Normal Thought, flashback

**Hello**: Speech of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

_**Hello**_: Thoughts of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**1. Drake G. Reaper -** Awesome start I like Lightning as a character she's probably one of the best female characters in the final fantasy series. One thing that's really going to be great about this story is that Lightning and the guild will complete quests and journey across Azeroth to save the world in classic final fantasy method. By the way I'm curious for this story are you operating within the similar time frame of several months before the Lich King's awakening or is he already awake?

Nope. Unlike my other story this one follows the majority of the patch release of the game. In that sense I deem each raid introduced to be sequential in time. For example Onyxia wasn't exposed until after Ragnaros was defeated in the Molten Core and etc.

**2. SilentSepharim - **I love the premise of this story, I have been an avid reader of your Bleached into Azeroth story and I believe that this could be just as good. If I may suggest that you don't implement the paradigm scheme, it is entirely out of place in the WOW universe. I await your next installment with baited breath.

I have an idea for Lightning's l'Cie abilities but I promise I will not implement the Paradigm system into my story the way it was in the game. It wouldn't be a FFXIII story without at least some type of paradigm system.

* * *

...

* * *

_They said this place was called Blackrock Mountain and it used to be a fertile land but I disagree,_

_Someplace this desolate, filled with death and misery, cannot have once been such a paradise,_

_So I must ask what brings all the treasure hunters and adventurers to a place like this?_

_What could be so important that people willingly go to a place of such loneliness and isolation?_

_I have no choice but to move forward if I'm ever going to see you again Serah._

**_~Lightning's Journal - Base Camp in the Burning Steppes_**

.

**WARCRAFT: LIGHTNING CHRONICLES**

**Chapter 2: Descent through Blackrock Mountain**

Lightning brushed some ash that had landed on her off her arm and scowled. Her team had arrived in the Burning Steppes last night and set up a campsite far away from Blackrock Mountain in order to avoid being spotted by the patrols. Even with the assurance that nobody would find them she took the hunter's spying telescope and headed west in order to do some reconnaissance and get her thoughts together. The last thing she needed was to snap at the only people watching her back here, no matter how unnecessary they are. Pulling out the telescope she looked across the clearing to the black iron gates built into the mountain to the north.

"_Their security seems deceptively weak,"_ she thought condescendingly as she observed the two dark iron dwarves patrolling outside the gate pull out something from their belt sand drink it, _"But then again with only a single way in or out from the steppes they really don't need that much protection on the surface when they could just have a larger force right inside and surprise any attacks. Wait a second…"_

Focusing the telescope on the dwarves she saw that one of them seemed to be frantically pointing at something in the distance. The other dwarf looked at where his partner was pointing and had a terrified look on his face. Narrowing her eyes, Lightning wished she were able to understand what they were saying.

"_Something has those dwarves agitated but what? Reading lips would be helpful right now."_

Her answer came when the sound of flapping wings reached her ears. Twisting her head around she was surprised to see a large black dragon flying past her overhead.

"_Is that a dragon?"_

Knowing just how dangerous dragons were if Fang's eidolon was any indication, Lightning ducked down and waited for it to pass her. After it moved by her she carefully peered out of her cover and watched with interest as it swooped down and let loose a stream of orange fire from his mouth that incinerated the two unlucky dwarves. It roared in triumph and circled around the area once or twice before taking off and flying around Blackrock Mountain and out of site. Lightning waited a few minutes just to make sure the coast was clear before standing back up. Letting out a sigh of relief she decided to count her blessings; if that thing had noticed her it would have been very bad.

"I suppose I better head back to the camp now. For all I know the team might assume I'm dead."

She had only taken a few steps when an intense bout of pain hit her chest. Grasping her l'Cie brand, which seemed to be the source of it, Lightning collapsed onto her hands and knees and desperately tried not to pass out from the agony. In between gasps she managed to look at her chest and noticed a soft blue glow emanating from her brand.

"_What's happening to me?"_

After a few minutes the pain disappeared as quickly as it arrived, much to Lightning's confused. Sweating from the exertion she stood and took a few deep breaths before continuing back to camp. Thankfully the trip back was uneventful and she managed to make it much more quickly than she thought. However going back meant dealing with the four people Bylena had set her up with and, like she thought, she couldn't stand them most of the time.

There was the gnome mage who said his name was Grazzle that, in her opinion, was one of the dumbest names she had ever heard. Next was the dwarf hunter Glamli who spent as much time possible drinking and sleeping. When she saw that he was on her team she vehemently protested against it but when Bylena kicked him awake from his hangover and asked him to shoot several targets at more than 100 yards away he groggily got up and shot six out of six bull's-eyes.

Lightning could not forget about the priest Merrani who she found to be both very persistent and annoying. Ever since they left Stormwind the human and been trying to 'bond' with her as if they were sisters. This filled Lightning with rage and caused her to stay as far away from the woman as possible. She already had a sister and didn't need some stranger trying to fill the void. Last but not least there was the night elf rogue Calion. Out of the four he was the only one she would ever think of working together with because he almost never spoke and when he did it was usually necessary.

Jumping over a small gap in the rocks she made it back to camp and noticed what everyone was doing. Grazzle was busy checking on the wards around the perimeter of the camp for the fifth or sixth time this hour, Glamli was still sleeping, and Calion had all of his daggers lined up on a crate and was applying a noxious green liquid to them.

"_Most likely a highly virulent poison. I should be careful of getting accidently cut._

Without turning his head the rogue asked, "How was your reconnaissance?"

Lightning jumped down from the rock she was on with a light grunt, "The way forward was lightly guarded but as I was about to return a dragon flew down and killed the dwarves."

Calion looked up in surprise, "You said you saw a dragon? How peculiar, they almost never come this far west."

"You're not hurt are you?" Merrani asked as her hands started to glow with a golden light.

Lightning pulled her arm away from her, "I'm fine."

"With everything taken care of we should head on in before something sees us," Grazzle suggested.

"We are not going anywhere until you explain what we are doing here." Lightning swept her arm towards the volcano, "You do not send five people to assault a dangerous place. If anything, you send a full army with several units of support as well as a base of operations. We are not leaving until I receive an explanation."

"I suppose she has been kept out of the loop long enough. If we are going to work well together we have to be honest with her," Calion said with a sigh, "Over the past several weeks various adventuring guilds like our own have received…disturbing reports of something lying deep within Blackrock Mountain."

Grazzle took over from there, "A lot of those guilds decided that whatever was going on was not worth the risk of losing several of their best rogues to scout out what was going on and those that did try and spy found their members not coming back."

"But I suppose you managed to get information?" Lightning realized.

"We sent our best rogue…" Merrani said as Calion grunted in indignation, "Oh calm down Calion! You know you would be a warrior instead of a rogue if you could still use poisons! Anyway, we sent our best rogue with strict instructions to retreat the second she found anything of importance. After a week of hearing nothing we assumed she had perished but later that day she stumbled into our guild headquarters covered in burns and wounds. After being healed she described something that caused Final Fantasy to take immediate action: the elemental fire lord Ragnaros is under Blackrock Mountain."

"Ragnaros?" Lightning asked while thinking, _"Could that be the name of their version of a fal'Cie? Perhaps they exist here but have been driven out of power by the mortal races."_

"Xinda didn't actually manage to see Ragnaros," Grazzle confessed, "But she did encounter one of his minions called Gehennas who confirmed that Ragnaros is indeed there."

"If this Ragnaros is so powerful why have only the five of us been sent?"

"Ragnaros is the elemental lord of fire and cannot be defeated in the mortal plane. The only way to truly stop him would be to banish him back to the Elemental Planes where he was summoned from in the first place. His connection to Azeroth is tenuous at best and therefore must spend a lot of his power to remain here. If someone could disrupt that connection he would be forcefully returned."

"And that is where we come in to save the day," Glamli said standing next to Lightning, "Our job is to deliver a mystical doohickey to the rest of the guild in the Molten Core."

"Molten Core?"

"The name was deemed appropriate," Calion stated, "When our guild first glimpsed the fire lord's lair they found a place with rivers of molten rock and creatures composed of rock and fire."

Lightning suddenly recalled what her job was and angrily asked, "So we are simple couriers?"

"Of course not!" Grazzle said and actually looked upset at her declaration, "We are the most important part of this operation. The rest of the guild's job is to simply distract Ragnaros's forces so we can make it down relatively safely and deliver this."

The gnome reached into a large buckled pack and removed a large jeweled medallion. Lightning found herself entranced by the object, which seemed to glow with an eerie blue light and caused a faint wind to pick up around the camp.

"In the first foray into the Molten Core our guild managed to wrestle two halves of a medallion away from Ragnaros's lieutenants before being forced to flee. As they fled they noticed just how desperately his elemental army wanted to retrieve the pieces and it got them thinking. They sent the two halves up to us using a mage portal in order for the halves to be studies to see just what was so important about them. After days of careful study we found that when the two halves were put back together they formed the prison of a powerful air elemental Ragnaros had defeated. Once we realized this we looked to see if we could use it's basic principles of trapping an elemental in another dimension to send Ragnaros back to his own."

"It's a one-use thing though," Calion warned, "We will only have one shot to send Ragnaros back to the Elemental Planes. If we fail, there won't be anything anyone can do to prevent his full return."

"Then what are we standing around here talking for?" Lightning said coldly as she began to walk towards Blackrock Mountain.

"But you asked-"

"I would have been fine with a simply explanation, I did not need to hear nor care about the history involved."

As she hopped down the hill leading towards the active volcano Merrani stated the obvious, "She is going to be very difficult to work with."

* * *

...

* * *

The interior of Blackrock Mountain looked to be straight out of a fairy tale. The dark iron dwarves had built their entire city on the inner walls of the volcano and were even crazy enough to create structures that led into the magma bubbling below. Lightning walked to the edge of the road and looked over the side, "Who would be crazy enough to build a city in an active volcano?"

"Ahem."

Lightning turns around and sees Glamli coughing into his hand. Ignoring his obvious attempt at making her feel embarrassed she walked away, "The question still stands."

"Hey don't knock dwavern engineering," Glamli protested while catching up to her, "We have some of the sturdiest buildings on all of Azeroth. Why, we could build a house in the middle of a lake of lava and it would be fine for decades!"

"Tch, I'll keep that in mind if I ever go insane."

As they ascended up the road inside the mountain Calion appeared in front of them accompanied by a cloud of white smoke. He looked around before scrapping some of the blood off his daggers onto the nearest object.

"The way forward has been cleared. Apart from some light patrols that I took care of there should be no further resistance until we head further down."

"Hold on a second," Glamli said seriously, "I feel something…off."

"What are you talking about?" Merrani asked, "Sure it is a little too quiet but there is nothing else here."

Lightning was not so easily convinced everything was right. If her trip to and from Gran Pulse had taught her anything, it is to always be more than prepared in foreign situations. Looking around she spotted a fairly wide crevasse between two buildings.

"Everyone move!" she ordered.

The group was initially hesitant to follow her orders besides Glamli, who was possibly the only one with more experience than Lightning. In the end she had to pick up Grazzle and drag him since he declared he was scared of small places.

"Deal with it," was her response as she shoved him in and followed suit, ducking down to get a better view of anything that approaches.

Nothing happened for several minutes and the group was getting agitated from being cramped together. Soon enough, however, the familiar sound of wings flapping drew closer and Lightning narrowed her eyes as a black dragon flew into the mountain and started circling the central pillar. As it did so Lightning had the strangest feeling that it was searching for something.

She shook her head, _"I'm over thinking this. It's nest or whatever it calls home is probably nearby."_

"**I can sense it,"** the dragon spoke in a deep baritone that shocked Lightning, **"The feeling of an unusual and potent magic. It is simply exquisite! Minions! Find the source and bring it to me!"** With one final roar the dragon landed in a hole further up the mountain and disappeared.

"That was close," Lightning muttered as she stepped out of the alley, "But I think it was searching for something."

"Yes," Calion said, "Black dragons are not to be trifled with. We should move on before it decides to come back."

"Very well then, which was do we go?"

Merrani pointed across the magma to the pillar in the middle of the chamber, "Over there."

"And how do you suppose we get there?" she asked sarcastically.

The priest gave her another short answer and pointed to a large chain jutting out from the walls of the mountain, "Using that."

"Right," Lightning said only to see the serious looks on the other three people, "You're serious?"

Glamli gave her a pat on back as he walked past her, "Here's a tip: don't look down."

Despite the absurdly simple advice Lightning found it to be sound. Out of the five she was chosen to go last since she was the only one who had not crossed it before. As she passed another link and was almost three-quarters of the way across only a single thought was passing through her head, _"Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…"_

"You can do it Lightning!" the every cheery Merrani shouted, "You're almost there."

"_Oh shut up."_ Lightning silently growled. If anything bad were to happen to the priest she would be the last person to mourn her.

"Holy hell, look out behind you!"

Lighting turned as much as she could without sacrificing her balance and cursed at what she saw. Racing down the chain from the other end and holding an assortment of axes and swords were six dark iron dwarves. If she didn't do something they were going to catch up to her within moments.

Glamli raced towards the edge of the platform and raised his rifle up but found he was unable to get a clear shot, "Damn it! I can't get a clear shot at them with you in the way Lightning."

"Can't you cast a spell to help?" Merrani asked Grazzle.

"Not if you want her to come back in one piece. At that range she runs a high risk of being caught in the crossfire."

Lightning cursed at her team's ineptitude. She hooked one arm around a torus-shaped link and used the other to draw her gunblade, "All of you are useless. I can handle this on my own."

As she drew her Blazefire Saber from its holster she spun it around and aimed carefully. Having never seen a weapon like that before the dark iron dwarves were momentarily confused but quickly regained their composure. Seeing how her opponents were charging headfirst towards her Lightning could not help but let out a sly smirk

"_This is too easy."_

She fired six shots, which was all that was needed. The dark iron armor the dwarves wore was designed to be able to withstand several impacts from the most modern ballistic weapons on Azeroth. Lightning's bullets, however, were unlike anything on the planet. The tungsten rounds she shot pierced through the armor like it was paper, shattering the armor and destroying the flesh being protected below. The six dwarves teetered on the chain for a few seconds before collapsing and falling silently into the pit of magma below.

Her eyes followed the corpses as they fell and burned in the molten rock below. "That was pitiful," she scoffed as she holstered her gunblade. Hastily crossing the rest of the way she jumped down onto the platform and found herself the center of attention.

Lightning had to push Grazzle away from her back as he tried to pull out her gunblade from its holster.

"Just let me inspect it for a moment. I promise I won't leave it in more than three pieces!"

"Down boy," Glamli said as he dragged the gnome away, "Sorry about that, he tends to get rather…excited around new pieces of technology."

"Whatever. Just make sure he doesn't do it again."

"Right. By the way that was some very nice shooting," the dwarf complemented, "Are you sure you're no hunter?"

"I don't know why you define yourselves in classes. If you're an accurate shot and can wield a sword there is not a good reason to do both."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved dismissively, "Most people don't have the patience to learn more than one skill set."

"Most people shouldn't be on the battlefield." Lightning easily retorted with a quick and almost unnoticed glance to Merrani.

"We can continue this diatribe later," Calion suggested, "when we aren't in hostile territory."

"Yes," Grazzle quickly agreed as his excitement over Lightning's gunblade disappeared, "We have a job to do. No point in wasting time arguing about one's qualifications."

Lightning looked at Calion for a few more seconds before turning away, "Tch."

Calion stepped away from the stairs leading down, "Shadowforge City is down these steps and past the quarry. Once we pass those it is basically a straight shot to the Molten Core.

"Only if we decide to ignore the bloodthirsty dwarves, bloodhounds and fire elementals along the way," Merrani said with a little worry in her voice as she went down the steps.

Lightning remained behind as the group moved ahead of her. Folding her arms she took one last look at the city above her, _"Serah, in order to reunite with you once again I'm throwing myself into something I may not return from. Everything I do from here on in I do with the solace that it brings me closer to seeing you."_

She took her first steps downwards when a second wave of pain shot through the area around her brand. While it was not as bad as the first time Lightning had to brace her hand against the nearby wall as she gasped for breath just so she did not collapse and fall down the stairs. Gritting her teeth she continued onwards ignorant of the pain, "This is not going to stop me,"

She continued to move despite the pain and was relieved when it went away once again. Descending through a tomb and down a path winding around the base of the central pillar she caught up to them directly inside the quarry. Initially confused as to why they had stopped once the smell hit her it became obvious.

"Ugh," she said with disgust and covered her nose. Strewn about the area were dozens of burnt bodies

"What the hell happened here?"

"Oh there you are Lightning," Grazzle said while inspecting one of the bodies, "We were wondering what happened to you."

She quickly answered, "It was nothing."

Glamli nudged one of the bodies with his rifle, "Looks like a fire elemental came through here and by the fact most of these corpses are dark iron I can say the elemental is fairly pissed off. I'm just glad none of these bodies are from our guild."

Lightning looked at the bodies, whose owners' seem to have died in great agony. She walked forward and observed the bodies. Something about them seemed to prick her danger senses but she could not place what it was.

"_Something's off. If this was a trap by the dwarves I don't think they would use so many of their own as a decoy, that would just be counterproductive to any direct assault."_ Kneeling down next to a corpse she carefully and gingerly inspected it, _"These marks are from blood boiling away inside the veins. If these bodies were torched after dying then these marks wouldn't exist. What is wrong here?"_

Lightning narrowed her eyes as it finally dawned on her, "Something's wrong."

"Everything seems to be in order," Calion says as he stands up, "The marks on the bodies are consistent with being burned alive."

"The smell from the corpses is still fresh. Whatever did this is still nearby."

A deep orange glow illuminated the quarry and Calion's eyes shot open. "Get down!" he shouted.

From years of training Lightning dove to the side as a large fireball shot directly through where she was just standing and splattered harmlessly against the quarry wall. Rolling to a halt she is surprised to see what can only be described as a large living flame floating its way towards them. With a deft motion she unsheathed her gunblade and fired several shots at it.

"Damn it!" she cursed as her bullets simply past through the elemental. The elemental wasted no time to retaliate as a dozen smaller but no less danger fireballs rocketed towards her. Ducking and weaving she found cover behind a stack of ore all the while the elemental tried to hit her.

"_This is unbelievable, a living flame that has the intelligence necessary to plan out attacks?"_

Wincing as a blast exploded relatively nearby Lightning looked for her accomplices. Calion had somehow managed to grab Grazzle and were ducking behind an overturned mining cart while Merrani and Glamli had jumped into a nearby ditch."

"Do any of you even have a plan?" she shouted at the disorganized group who were acting more like children then the trained professionals they claimed to be.

"It's a fire elemental," Grazzle called back before he was forced to duck his head back behind the mining cart, "They are relatively easy to dispatch if you can get close enough but this one seems hell bent on keeping us at a distance."

"Can't you use your magic?"

"Don't you think I've tried?" Grazzle responded, "It's not giving me enough time to cast a spell. I need utmost concentration if I am to reach it from all the way back here."

"**You mortal fools will not stop what is to come."**

Lightning took the opportunity to glance around the edge of her cover. The fire elemental had stopped throwing fireballs for the moment and was now looking at them.

"**My master's return to this pitiful planet is all but guaranteed and I will not allow you to interfere. I, Overmaster Pyron, will to it that your bodies are burnt beyond all recognition!"**

Lightning grit her teeth as the bombardment recommenced. Transforming her Blazefire Saver to its blade mode she muttered, "If you want something done you have to do it yourself," and picked up a rock. Tossing it once she threw it over the rubble.

Pyron took the bait and aimed at the rock. This was all the time Lightning needed as she skidded out of cover and ran forward with her gunblade held behind her. The fire elemental let out its version of a laugh as it shot a single fireball at her.

"Not good enough!" she shouted as she dodged the attack and continued forward.

The elemental continued to deem her attack as inconsequential and threw several more fireballs and fire blasts. Much to its surprise Lightning used her gunblade to swat several of the spells away while avoiding the rest.

"This is the end," Lightning coldly stated as she skidded beneath the elemental with her arms cocked back. Pivoting on her feet she swung her gunblade and bisected Pyron. Initially confident she was shocked when the elemental started coalescing back together.

"How-"

"**You cannot stop me with physical attacks,"** Pyron gloated as it almost finished reforming, **"Now I will-"**

Whatever it was going to say was cut off when it was flash frozen in an enormous block of ice. Without thinking she sliced the frozen elemental several times and watched as the pieces slid and shattered on the ground.

"Well done," Grazzle commented as the group made their way to Lightning and the remains of Overmaster Pyron, "That impressive display of agility was just the distraction needed for me to finish it off."

She did not like where this was going, "I didn't need help. I had it covered."

"Everyone knows you can't finish off a fire elemental with a weapon. You have to hit it with water or ice based attacks"

Lightning adverted her eyes as she turned away, _"If I could still use my l'Cie abilities I would have finished it with that single attack. I'm so used to being able to do magic that I completely forgot I'm human again."_ She touched the spot on her chest where her brand was hidden, _"If I can't use magic anymore why is this thing still here?"_

With the fire elemental killing everyone in the quarry the journey out and into the city was clear. The room directly after the quarry had seen better days. Apart from several overturned tables, a ramp leading up directly in front of them and a locked metal gate to the left there was nothing of value to be found. As they spread out in the room Lightning and the others heard the sounds of dwarves in the distance. Carefully kneeling and walking up the ramp Lightning cursed when she saw over a hundred dwarves in the next chamber patrolling back and forth.

"_Crap. How are we going to get past them without setting off every alarm in this place?"_

Glamli and Calion picked up an overturned and rotten table and waved everyone over, "This is where things get tricky people. As you have noticed the Detention Block directly in front of us is a no go. There is absolutely no way forward without dying horribly in the process."

"That is why we have this," Calion said smugly as he tossed a large and ornate black key onto the table. "This is what is known a the Shadowforge Key. It may look simple but it has several mana triggers forged into it that prevents anyone from simply copying it. The guild members that came here before us managed to procure it and sent it back up several days ago. With this key in our possession we will be able to bypass the Detention Block entirely through that nearby gate. That should take us directly to what the dark iron dwarves call the Dark Iron Highway."

Lightning nodded, "What can we expect to encounter?"

The night elf shook his head, "I cannot say. When the group moved through they met surprising little resistance but they did manage to describe most of the city."

Pulling out a map and laying in on the table the rouge pointed to several areas in succession, "The guild managed to bypass the Detention Block by sheer luck. The gate was open because the dark iron dwarves were moving equipment and supplies around. They slaughtered the dwarves and quickly moved through to the highway. When they reached the actual highway they found one end led to a set of large black gates that were barred shut while the other end crossed over a bridge towards the center of the city. They moved forward and stumbled upon the Black Anvil and an enormous fire elemental guarding it. While they managed to kill it they lost one of their warriors to a stray fiery burst that knocked him over the edge into the magma below."

Glamli pulled the map away from Calion, "Let me take over from here. Past the Black Anvil they stumbled upon what can be proudly called the Hall of Crafting, the major producer of dark iron golems in this entire area. Needless to say they decided to destroy it so it wouldn't come and bite them in the ass later on." He let out a sigh before continuing, "Unfortunately dwarves build everything both strong and tough and golems are definitely no exception. They destroyed the chief architect but lost two members to the golems."

Calion grabbed the map back from the dwarf; "Past the Hall of Crafting they found themselves in the Summoner's Tomb where the seven dwarves that initially summoned Ragnaros to Azeroth were buried. From the report they sent back the spirits of the dwarves came back and they were forced to fight them."

"Hold on a second, Lighting interrupted, "They fought spirits? How?"

"The dead can be brought back to the mortal world through more than one means. Some of which are much more horrifying than others. That is not the point though." Calion turned back to the map and pointed out the tomb, "They defeated the ghosts without any casualties moved on through the tomb where they found the entrance to the Molten Core."

Lightning stared at the map. The entire city was labeled, albeit crudely, on it and she was certain they would be lost without out, "So this is a straight shot with most of the resistance already wiped out by the other members of your guild?"

"Yes."

"Very well then, go and unlock the gate so we can get moving. Grazzle I want you to stay in the middle of the group. You are in possession of the object that is needed for our mission so your life takes precedence."

"That is a good idea," the gnome agreed, "But I will not be babysat like a child. I am competent in what I do and will not sit around and be protected."

She narrowed her eyes before turning around and walking away, _"There is no place for showboating in battle. Their insistence on being at the center of attention is going to get them killed."_

With a quiet click the gate leading to the Dark Iron Highway swung open. "Ok the way forward is clear," Calion said, "We have to be vigilant, the bloodhounds here have an excellent sense of smell and will be able to sense our presence from a great distance away."

Grazzle stepped forward and tossed the bag with the binding to Glamli, "Let me take point here. There are bound to be fire elementals ahead. I'll need to freeze them before they can sense our presence and alert their allies."

The mage's prediction was accurate as they slowly walked deeper into the city. Not soon after passing through the game they found a pair of fire elementals lazily floating around. Grazzle froze one and weakened the other enough for Lightning and Calion to finish it off.

"This is too easy, where are all the dwarves?"

"This is a utility passageway for the city," Merrani figured, "Perhaps they did not think to fortify it thinking that intruders wouldn't have the key?"

Soon enough they reached the Dark Iron Highway and immediately were on edge. The entire area was abandoned with not a single living soul apart from them to be found. They walked to the middle of the highway, their footsteps echoing off the chamber walls, and took a look around.

Lightning tensed her body and hooked a finger through the Blazefire Saber's trigger and drew it in one quick motion. Keeping it in its' gun mode she aimed it at several spots where an ambush was likely to come from, "This isn't right."

Calion unsheathed and spun his daggers, "Agreed."

"I am ready to create some fireworks!" Grazzle exclaimed.

Merrani took a deep breath to steady her nerves, "Let's just hope I don't have to heal anything major."

Glamli adjusted the bag on his back and took a big whiff, "I smell beer."

Almost as if they were coming out of the rocks themselves the dark iron dwarves surrounded the group. Some of them seemed to take pleasure in brandishing their weapons and shields while others were holding back snarling and barking bloodhounds with thick iron chains.

Lightning's eyes drifted across the sea of dwarves, "Things look bad."

Glamli laughed, "Yeah, for them."

"Now is not the time for jokes," Calion scolded.

"I know but being upset isn't going to help."

She let out a cold chuckle, "Just try and keep up."

Lightning rushed forward and fired several shots from her gunblade that took out the bloodhounds charging towards her. Moving around the corpses she quickly closed the distance to the nearest dwarves and cut down many of them before they were able to react. When one of them attempted to counterattack she jumped onto his face and used it as a springboard to launch herself into the air where she transformed her gunblade again and fired off a dozen more shots into the crowd below. Landing in an area free of dwarves she was surprised to find herself back-to-back with Calion. The rogue's daggers were dripping dwarf blood but seemed to have several small wounds and a large injury to his leg.

"You ok?" she asked as she shot several more dwarves that tried to rush her.

"I'll be fine," he replied as he dodged a dark iron dwarf and slit his throat, "One of them got a lucky stab."

"Will you still be able to fight?"

"I didn't know you cared."

"I don't care but with you injured our chances of succeeding drop."

"Don't worry about me, Merrani will be able to heal a wound such as this in no time."

"Tch. Fine."

A short distance away Glamli laughed hysterically as his rifle dropped another dark iron dwarf. His parents always said that every dwarf was his brother or sister but right now he couldn't give a crap about that.

"Ha! That's thirty-one of you bastards I killed and yet you still keep on coming for more?"

"Only thirty-one?" Grazzle asked while killing a group of dwarves with an explosion, "I'm already in the forties."

"Can you guys shut up with the bragging?" Merrani asked as her hands glowed with a golden light, "Healing wounds is tough enough without all the ego building."

The group continued to fight and slaughter the dark iron dwarves without sustaining any serious injuries. However the overall number of dwarves appearing slowly but surely forced them back and they eventually found themselves with their backs against the cavern wall.

Lightning fired several more shots but cursed when the fallen dwarves were easily replaced, _"This is absurd. Every one I kill is quickly replaced. What they lack in skill they make up in numbers."_

The first time a loud bang rang through the highway nobody seemed to notice it but after once it happened a second time both sides stopped and looked down the highway to the closed gate. When the gate shook with the third impact the dwarves and bloodhounds retreated from the battle into the metal doors lining the highway.

"Yeah you better run you bastards!" Glamli yelled as he took down one last fleeing dwarf.

"Quiet Glamli," Calion hissed as Merrani finished healing his leg.

"Anyone know what's trying to get through?" Lightning asked as the door shook again.

"Not a clue," Grazzle said worried, "But I don't think we should stay here any longer."

"Are you daft? Those doors are dwarvern craftsmanship at its' finest! There is not way something could knock them down!"

The loud creak of rusted metal echoed through the area and the group watched as one of the doors opened and a large stone hand gripped the edge. With a loud push the door was slammed open and into the cavern wall, causing the area to shake with the force. The creature that was behind the door shambled forward out of the shadows and exposed its molten body to them.

"What about opening them?" Grazzle asked.

Lightning took a few steps back, "What the hell?"

"By the stone, that's Bael'Gar!"

The group turned to Glamli for an explanation, "Hey, all the rumors says is that Bael'Gar is the protector of Shadowforge City. They didn't say anything about being a molten giant."

Calion seemed as confused as the dwarf, "I thought they were all in the Molten Core."

Lightning scoffed, "Obviously not since there's one right in front of us. The question is what we are going to do about it."

Bael'Gar seemed to notice their presence and looked down. With a loud roar it began walking towards them with its arms outstretched, every step covering up to twenty feet.

"Run!" Lightning commanded as she began running in the opposite direction towards the Black Anvil.

The group raced through the highway while Bael'Gar seemed to slowly catch up to them. As they ran down the highway a loud screeching sound picked up. They saw with horror that the door at the end of the highway was slowly swinging shut. It didn't matter if the dwarves were trying to stop them or Bael'Gar, if the gate closed before they got through they were screwed.

Lightning had an idea, "Pick up the pace! If we can get through before it closes this thing won't be able to follow us!"

The group seemed to understand and picked up their paces. In the end it was Lightning and Calion who managed to get through first. When she made it Lightning turned around and fired several shots from her gunblade towards the molten giant's eyes hoping to slow it down even a little. The creature roared and covered its eyes with a hand in response, which gave the remaining three members time to rush through the gate just as it closed.

"Gnomes…were not…meant for running," Grazzle said between pants.

Merrani groaned as she rubbed her legs, "By the Light my legs are killing me. I shouldn't have worn such thin shoes."

Glamli collapsed onto his back, "I'm going to just lie down here for a bit. Wake me in ten years."

Lightning was going to have none of this, "We should keep moving. The gate was closed on us so someone here knows about us. The longer we stay in one spot the better the chance we will be caught."

"Relax," Calion said dismissively, "We can afford a small breather after what we just went through. Isn't it better to rest for five minutes then to push on exhausted?"

As much as she wanted to argue she couldn't find any fault with the logic, "Fine, we have ten minutes before we move out."

She ignored the groans of protest from the three members as she looked over the edge of the bridge to the magma below. As her face was illuminated in the yellow-orange glow her thoughts drifted back to her sister once again, _"Serah, this place is full of such wonders that I cannot fully describe to you. The people here are tolerable at least. I just hope I can tell you myself one day."_

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_..._

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Here is the second chapter of Warcraft: Lightning Chronicles. I wanted to get this out as quickly as possible so that all of you, my faithful readers, will have at least some sense of where this story will be going.**

**Read and Review**

**~_Bahamut_Reishiki_**


	3. Chapter 3: The Molten Core

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Final Fantasy XIII or World of Warcraft, they are owned by Square Enix and Blizzard respectively. Any original characters in my story do belong to me and can be used with my permission. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello: Normal Speech

_Hello_: Normal Thought, flashback

**Hello**: Speech of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

_**Hello**_: Thoughts of dragons, demons, titans, elemental lords, summons

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

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_I have never seen such an inhospitable and hellish landscape,_

_Creatures prowl the boiling rivers of rock and fly through the air on streams of fire._

_The members of Final Fantasy don't seem too perturbed by any of this though,_

_I have just been told that the being known as Ragnaros is further inside,_

_I cannot help but feel fear for what I am about to encounter._

_Serah, will my journey end before it begins here in this pit of hell?_

_**~Lightning's Journal – Molten Core Expedition Camp**_

.

**WARCRAFT: LIGHTNING CHRONICLES**

**Chapter 3: The Molten Core**

"_Damn it. Just keep moving…"_

Lightning jumped over a fire elemental as she raced towards the exit to the chamber. She could not believe how everything could have gone wrong so quickly, fifteen dead within the first ten seconds. But at least the one who caused all this was dead, killed by the very being he called his master.

She cursed as she attempted to outrun a wall of lava that threatened to engulf her. She just barely managed to avoid it by jumping across the lava onto a higher ledge. Wincing as the heat sizzled and burnt her skin she desperately held on to her consciousness in order to not pass out.

"**BY FIRE BE PURGED!"**

"_What the hell?"_

She grit her teeth as she backflipped over a fireball the size of a boulder back onto the path. Sparing a quick glance around, she looked for anyone else that may have survived. It was improbable that she out of the entire guild was the only one left standing.

"_Where are they?"_

Her attention was forced back to the task at hand as an enormous fist smashed into the ground behind her. The force of the impact was enough to make her stumble but she was able to keep her balance and continue fleeing from the enraged firelord. Just ahead was the exit to his chamber, if she could simply manage to flee outside she could rest and formulate a new plan.

And then the giant mace slammed into the ground next to her.

Before her mind could process what had happened her body was already flying through the air. As her hands futilely attempted to grab the air itself to slow down she noticed that her trajectory was going to bring her out of the chamber and into one of the many cavern walls.

"_This is going to hurt…"_

Her body slammed into the wall with enough force that she blacked out for a moment. As she crashed helplessly to the ground she found that her eyes were having trouble focusing and all she could hear was a persistent ringing. Coughing harshly she attempted to stand up only to fall back down as an intense pain shot up the side of her chest. She gingerly moved her hands as she tried to figure out what was hurting. When she did, she was wracked by another bout of coughing.

"_One, two, three broken ribs and who knows what else is damaged."_

As her vision fully returned to her Lightning noticed that her flight had by some small chance knocked her out of the chamber and into one of the large passageways that winded through the Molten Core. She leaned her head back against the wall as a thin line of blood dribbled out of her mouth.

"_Ragnaros…I never thought I would meet such a monstrous being. Even Barthandelus and the other fal'Cie were nowhere near this powerful."_

The cavern shook as if an earthquake had hit the place and Lightning winced as some loosened rock fell onto her. Closing her eyes she resigned herself to the fact that she was most likely not getting out of this hellscape alive. Most of the guild was dead, killed by the being mercilessly hunting for her now and the rest either fled or were too injured to continue fighting.

"**WHERE ARE YOU MORTAL? YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME!"**

She supposed she was glad that Ragnaros wasn't able to leave his chamber or he wouldn't be looking around for her. Glancing to the right she saw Sophia, barely breathing and with her entire left side burnt beyond recognition, grasping a familiar bag. Without enough energy to move her body Lightning simply sighed and decided to let the end come.

* * *

...

* * *

**8 HOURS AGO**

It was hot. Lightning hated hot.

She kicked a rock off the path and watching as it sailed through the air and into the river of magma below. Turning away from the molten rock she followed the group further into the Molten Core. Even though she imagined this place to be inhospitable nothing could have prepared her for the scale of the desolation. Rivers of magma flowed like water throughout the caverns and the places that were safe enough to walk upon were few and far between.

"How much further do we need to go?"

Grazzle gave her a small shrug as he pulled out the map and tried to figure out where they were without it getting blown out of his small hands. With the large temperature variations throughout the Molten Core large gusts of wind ripped through the caverns and constantly threatened to rip the map out of his hands.

"I don't actually know," he responded while turning the map on its' side, "All we were told was to get to the entrance and there would be people waiting here to meet us."

While the guild members tried to figure out where they were supposed to go Lightning decided to walk on ahead a little further. As her boots crunched down on the igneous rock that composed the path she realized just how eerily quiet the place actually way. Apart from the sounds of bubbling magma and rocks fracturing under the temperature she could not hear anything else no matter how much she strained her ears.

"…I told you we should have waited outside!"

"And what if the rest of them were waiting right here for us to just walk around the corner?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the escalating argument between Glamli and Grazzle. From what she could tell the dwarf was pushing to move forward deeper into the Molten Core while the gnome mage was trying to convince the group to retreat back to the relative safety of Shadowforge City.

"You call that deathtrap of a city safe? Do you not recall the number of dark iron dwarves we had to fight through to get down here?"

"Yes, but they're all dead."

"Quiet," Lightning hissed as her temper became dangerously close to being lost, "We are in a very dangerous place and you two are bickering like children. So either shut up or figure out a course of action!"

"If any of you don't mind," Calion spoke up while trying to defuse the tense situation, "I have an idea that might please both parties. It would be highly unlikely for thirty or so people to stay in a dangerous location as this so I suggest carefully making our way a little deeper into the Molten Core in search of the guild. Perhaps they are just a little further in."

"Unlikely," she quickly replied, "I couldn't hear anything."

"Hmm," Grazzle hummed as he stroked his pink beard, "It could be that the ambient mana permeating this place is creating some kind of a dampening field around anything, preventing sounds from echoing."

"In any event we need to move. The more we stall here the faster Ragnaros regains his strength."

In the end Calion's suggestion turned out to be correct. An hour after continuing the group found the guild camped out in a particularly large cavern that apart from several dark tunnels leading deeper into the Molten Core and a few lavafalls cascading downwards was probably the safest place in the entire area. As the group walked down the path leading towards the camp a woman in golden armor noticed them and made her way towards them. Lightning noticed that while she had a smile on her face her left arm was bandaged and bloody.

"Calion!" the woman said as she gave the night elf a one-armed hug, "So good to see you made it here in one piece. I thought for sure you were lost when we didn't hear from you after a couple of days."

Calion chuckled as he returned the gesture, "It's nice to see you too Sophia."

"So how went the journey? I see none of you are dead so it must have gone pretty well."

"We have you to thank," Merrani said with a small bow, "The guild members that you brought down initially helped to clear out much of the opposition from the dark iron dwarves in Shadowforge City. The only real trouble we had was outrunning Bael'gar, a molten giant."

Sophia let out a grunt of frustration, "Damn it, I thought for sure it was just a rumor since we didn't encounter it when we crossed through the city. It must have thought it wouldn't survive a battle with thirty-five of Azeroth's best adventurers. It is a relief that none of you were killed by it."

"That reminds me," Calion motioned with his hand to Glamli. The dwarf stepped forward and gave Sophia a bag, "Here is the Binding of the Windseeker, all complete and ready to banish Rangaros back to whatever hell he came from."

The paladin had a little difficulty grabbing the heavy bag with one hand. Calion noticed her injury and frowned.

"What happened to your arm Sophia?"

"Oh this?" she repeated while motioning with her head to her damaged and burnt arm, "It was my fault really. The day after we had those shards sent up to the guild master we decided to press forward and thin out Ragnaros's forces a bit. It initially went well but we came across a flamewalker that introduced itself as Gehennas before attacking us. Luckily none of us were killed in the battle but right before it died I got hit by a curse that did this to my arm and prevented anyone from healing it. Now I'm stuck here at the camp until the curse wears off."

Glamli shuddered, "Ouch. Does it hurt?"

"Only when I move it."

"Let me try to help you Sophia, I am one of the best healers in the guild after all." Merrani offered.

Sophia smiled and shook her head, "Thanks for the offer Merrani but I will have to pass. While I will be fine until the curse wears off there are others that are much worse off and without adequate healing some of them might not make it. We could really use your expertise here at camp."

As the paladin turned to the side and allowed the priestess to hurry past her into the camp she noticed Lightning standing off to the side. Lightning noticed that the paladin was talking about her and decided to cross her arms and turn away from her. Sophia frowned at her rudeness and asked, "Who's your friend?"

Glamli was the one unlucky enough for Sophia to turn towards and nervously said, "Er…the lady's name is Lightning."

"Lightning?" Sophia said intrigued.

"That's all we know. We tried finding out more on the way but damn is she secretive about her past. Bylena told us all that we know about her but she found out what she knew from Bolvar Fordragon. Apparently Lightning here has the reagent's personal recommendations for joining us in the Molten Core."

"Bolvar giving his consent, that is interesting. Usually he is one to refuse initiates entrance to our guild. What was Bylena's reaction to his decision?"

The dwarf shrugged, "As far was we can figure she seemed to agree with his decision."

"Did she now…" Sophia trailed off as she stomped towards Lightning. She stopped right in front of her and stared directly into her eyes, "Why are you here?"

Lightning glared right back at her. The paladin may be slightly larger then herself but she was not going to stand this woman invading her personal space, "Excuse me?"

"Are you here for the riches fabled to exist? Perhaps it is the fame and prestige you seek. After all, the defeat of Rangaros will be known throughout all of Azeroth. Everything associated with his banishing will become famous. No matter what your answer is I will not allow you to assist in our mission. Final Fantasy does not allow mercenaries or glory-seekers into its folds even if we require their help."

Lightning scoffed and let out a hollow laugh, "You really think I am that shallow?"

"What?"

She dismissed the paladin with a wave of her hand, "You don't need to worry about me stealing any of your glory. I am not here for either the fame or the gold."

"Then why are you here?"

Lightning would have loved to simply just turn around and walk away from the woman. She did not appreciate her accusation but several things stopped her from leaving. First of all she had absolutely zero chance of making it out of there alive. The trip through Blackrock Mountain included several life or death situations that she was lucky to have survived in the first place. If she were to go back there was no doubt she would not make it. The second and most important reason was that helping these people was the only way Bolvar said he would offer his assistance. If she did manage to get out alive she would be stuck in this world with no way to return to her sister.

So sighing and reeling in her temper she gave her answer, "You want to know why I'm here so badly? I'm looking for information."

Sophia was obviously not expecting that particular answer if her reaction was anything to go by, "What?"

"Tch, are you dense? The man you call Bolvar promised me very valuable information in exchange for helping your guild. Now that I'm here I can't help but start to regret my decision."

The paladin did not trust Lightning and was about to continue pressing the issue when Calion spoke up, "She has my trust Sophia. That should be enough."

Sophia gave Lightning one final glare before motioning with her one good arm for the group to follow her. As they walked several people in various states of injury she began to speak, "I suppose I should bring you up to speed on our progress. Getting to Ragnaros is turning out to be a lot more difficult than initially thought."

"Is his army that massive?" Calion asked.

She shook her head, "It is large but manageable. Whatever spell brought him to Azeroth cut him off from a lot of his forces, which is very helpful. No, the problem is that he has to be summoned from wherever he is hiding."

"Summoned?" Grazzle asked, "That does not sound easy."

"It is not. When we killed Gehennas we found that he was protecting some sort of metal plate. Upon further inspection by our warlocks it was found to be a rune of warding."

"There are runes of warding here? That is…bad."

Sophia raised an eyebrow, "You know about them Grazzle?"

The gnome nodded, "Only the theory. Powerful mages, warlocks and demons use runes of warding to protect a specific person, place, or thing. What they do is charge a special symbol with a large quantity of their mana and then cast the long incantation. Until whoever is guarding the rune is defeated the rune will protect whatever it was designed for."

"Where were you two days ago when we were wondering about them?" the paladin joked, "But everything you said is correct. We managed to capture a few flamewalkers and get some useful information out of them. Apparently the one who both created the runes of warding and is being protected by them is known only as the Majordomo. What makes things worse is that this figure may be the only way to summon Ragnaros."

"Brilliant, simply brilliant," Grazzle couldn't help but complement the ingenuity of the runes. They may have been created to help bring about the apocalypse but as a mage he couldn't help but marvel at the complexity of the warding, "Ragnaros is protected from being summoned by having the only thing able to summon him held safely behind several runes of warding. I take it there has been progress in dousing them?"

She held up four fingers on her right hand, "Before I was sent back we had found and disabled four runes. The first rune was guarded by Gehennas, as you already know, but the second one was protected by a flamewalker and this giant core hound that made some of the molten giants look small. While we managed to slay both of them I lost three men to that creature. The third one was particularly tricky because a lava elemental that had a nasty ability that disabled magic within a certain range around it was guarding it. It was frustrating to have to fight in with only physical attacks but we managed to destroy it without anyone dying."

"That was only three, what about the fourth?"

The paladin looked angry for a second, "Ah yes…Baron Geddon."

Lightning seemed to find the name amusing, "Baron Geddon? Is that some sort of nickname?"

Sophia ignored her, "After deactivating the third rune we found a tunnel that led further into the Molten Core behind it. We did not know what we would find so it was decided to send a rogue, Caran, ahead to just find where it led and come back. After waiting several minutes we heard the sound of an explosion and maniacal laughter. What happened afterwards can only be described as a nightmare. An enormous fire elemental that called itself Baron Geddon emerged from the tunnel and began attacking us. It took everything we had but eventually it lay before us defeated. When we approached it after thinking it was dead, it laughed and detonated, killing tow of us. The rune we found at the end of the tunnel was but a small consolation for their deaths."

"I'm sorry."

Everybody turned to Lightning as she continued, "You are in charge of the safety of these men and women. Every death must weigh heavily on your soul but you cannot allow them to bring you down. You move forward and do your best to prevent any more of them from dying."

Sophia nodded, "Thank you."

"Let's get back to the topic at hand. How many of these runes are left?"

"I do not know Grazzle. After the fight with Baron Geddon I was sent back with the wounded to recover while the rest of the guild pressed on. We already knew the location of another rune when I was sent back so there might be one less to worry about."

"How long ago were you sent back?"

"Around midday yesterday."

Lightning sighed and let out a breath she did not know she was holding, "Which way did they go?"

Sophia looked shocked, "You're not thinking of-"

"You know how dangerous this place is."

"Girl's got a point," Glamli agreed and ignored the death glare from Lightning, "I'm one of the best hunters in the guild, Calion's stealth is undetectable, Grazzle knows more about the frost and arcane schools than most mages and Lightning here scares the piss out of me."

"Huh?"

"Oh that's right, you haven't seen the girl in action. She did this thing involved acrobatic flips that ended with over a dozen dead dark iron dwarves without her breaking a sweat. Combine that with her personality and I would rather face Ragnaros stark naked than her in a bad mood."

"…"

"She has a point Sophia. We could do more helping to disable the runes then sitting around here waiting. You have the Bindings of the Windseeker what more do you need us here for?"

"Very well," she conceded after a moment, "But let me give you a few words of advise as to what lies within…"

* * *

...

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**4 HOURS AGO**

"Fall back! Retreat!"

The order came but Lightning was too preoccupied with trying to avoid getting eaten alive to listen. Barely dodging the crushing bite of the core hound in front of her she backpedaled to increase the distance. It was all for naught as the core hound effortlessly turned and pursued her.

"_Damn it."_

Instead of moving away Lightning decided to try something new. Running towards the core hound with her Blazefire Saber in its gun mode she waited until the very last moment before she propelled herself off the ground and into the air. While the core hound was momentarily confused Lightning fired off over a dozen shots from her gunblade into the creature's back, opening up small holes that exposed the lava that functioned as its blood. Landing in a crouch she cursed when the core hound simply shrugged off the damage, howled and charged towards her.

"_I won't be able to dodge in time…"_

Just before the core hound reached Lightning an enormous glowing hammer wielding by a familiar face slammed into its body. The core hound sailed through the air across the entire chamber before crashing into the far wall and slid down to the ground in a silent, unmoving lump.

Panting as she fought off exhaustion, she grabbed the hand being offered to her and with a grunt pulled herself up.

"Thanks Marcus."

The paladin holding the hammer hefted it onto his shoulder with an audible grunt, "Always glad to be of service miss."

Even in this dangerous situation Lightning was not one to let insults slide, "Don't call me miss."

"**GOLEMAGG CRUSH PUNY MORTALS!"**

The molten giant at the far end of the room had finally had enough of letting its' pets fight the mortals. With the death of the second core hound it flew into a rage and charged across the chamber with thoughts of crushing the murderers between its fingers filling up its mind.

Marcus took a single look at the giant and took off into a particularly fast run for someone wielding a 150 pound hammer, "Run!"

"Right," Lightning agreed as she ran after him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that staying in the path of an enraged 60-foot stone and lava creature was not a good idea. The only reason the two of them had remained behind with Golemagg was to buy the rest of the guild time to set up their plan. She did not know what exactly was going to happen but Grazzle had promised it was going to be 'awesome.'

As they ran up the slope she turned to Marcus, "You have any idea what the plan is?"

"No," he panted back. Apparently the heavy weight of his armor and weapon was starting to impact him, "All Grazzle said was to keep at least forty feet between us and Golemagg back there."

The two fleeing soldiers reached the exit to Golemagg's lair and sprinted out into the larger expanse of the Molten Core. As she ran Lightning saw Grazzle and the two other remaining mages standing up on an outcropping with their hands glowing a deep blue.

"Ok guys," Grazzle ordered, "Wait for the giant to get into the target zone and let him have it!"

Golemagg shambled up the tunnel at a speed impressive for a creature its size. When the prey had fled from its domain after killing its pets, the molten giant had put no thought into it being a trap, **"GOLEMAGG WILL NOT FAIL LORD RAG-"**

Let it be known that there is a reason why most mages that work with portals do not use them to transport inanimate things. It takes a lot of effort to focus the mind on a particular object and then drag it across time and space to the destination with destroying or losing it on the way. However Grazzle was a genius for a reason and had used the other two mages to increase the chances of the plan succeeding to almost guaranteed. So when over a dozen cases of Dark Iron Bombs appeared out of portals directly above the molten giant and detonated, Golemagg didn't even have time to yell before the upper half of its body simply disintegrated from the explosion.

Lightning coughed as she dragged herself off the ground. The explosion had been large enough to knock everyone within one hundred yards violently to the ground. Spitting out a wad of blood and saliva from when she bit her tongue she took a cursory glance around and grimly counted how many of the guild were still alive. When the four of them had caught up to the group they had swelled their numbers to sixteen but now only twelve were still among the living.

"_Glamli…"_

She could still remember how the dwarf had died. They had almost killed the Sulfuron Harbinger when he decided to go out with a bang. It had raised its staff into the air and began glowing intensely. She had literally felt the temperature rising exponentially and knew from Sophia's warning what the flamewalker was trying to do. While she was too far away to do anything Glamli was close enough to act. The stout dwarf had thrown his weapon to the side and barreled into the harbinger and tackled it over the side into the lava just as it exploded.

Lightning shook her head, _"Now is not the time to mourn the fallen. You can do that after the mission is complete."_

"You alright Marcus?"

The paladin shook his head, "Apart from a slight ringing in my ears I'm fine."

Lightning nodded since that was a common after-effect of being near an explosion, "With Golemagg dead that makes seven runes deactivated. How many are left?"

"I hope there aren't too many more. Who knows how long we are going to fight until we get to Ragnaros."

"**The runes of warding have been destroyed! Hunt down the infidels, my brethren!"**

They stood in silence for a moment before Marcus broke out into laughter, "I guess that was the last one after all."

"This isn't a time for laughing. We have a job to do," Lightning warned as she stalked away from him and back towards the rest of the group. With only twelve of them left the odds of successfully fighting the so-called Majordomo head on were falling rapidly. Walking past several members she took a seat and rest her back against a rock. Closing her eyes she tried to think of a possible scenario with minimal casualties.

"_Only three mages, two paladins, a rogue, a druid, a priest, a warrior, two warlocks and myself remain. It may not be much but it will have to be enough to finish the task at hand."_

Lightning glanced to her left as Calion sat down next to her and drank a bright red potion. Wiping his lips of the liquid he turned to her, "We should rest and regain our strength before going after this Majordomo. We have no idea where he is but if we can defeat him Ragnaros will be forced out of hiding."

"What makes you think the Majordomo will summon Rangaros in the first place? If he simply dies then everything we did so far will be for nothing," she asked sarcastically.

He shrugged, "I don't know but I think the Majordomo is too important of a figure to be killed. Even if we are forced to kill him and are unable to stop Rangaros from regaining his strength we have already dealt a rather serious blow to his forces, perhaps enough to cripple him for the rest of the world to finish off."

She scoffed, "I still believe your plan to capture the Majordomo is idiotic and foolhardy at best."

The rogue chuckled, "Perhaps but why don't we make a wager."

A single eyebrow rose as green eyes turned to the night elf, "You want to bet?"

"If you are correct and my plan doesn't work I will ask the guild master to help you in your quest but if it works and the Majordomo summons Ragnaros you will buy a new set of clothes."

"New clothes?" Lightning was confused and looked down before grimacing. Her prized guardian corps outfit, the same outfit that she had worn throughout her journey to stop the fal'Cie, was almost in shreds. Several areas of her white overcoat were bunt away exposing her turtleneck shirt and skin underneath. She was relieved to know that the lightning pendant she always wore was still in pristine condition.

"_He has a point. It would be shameful to walk around half-naked. At least my Blazefire Saber is still working perfectly."_

A loud sob echoed from her right and Lightning noticed that the night elf druid seemed to be in tears, "Why are we down here risking our lives anyway? How can we hope to fight an elemental lord in the first place? I lost ten of my friends on this suicidal missions already and I can't take it anymore!"

Calion put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Calm down Freja, there is no need to get upset. I understand that this is one of your first dangerous missions with the guild but you have to understand that each and every one of us understood the risks before coming down here."

"The night elf is correct," Grazzle said jumping off the rock he was sitting on, "I may be scared or nervous but that doesn't stop me from fighting my best. The moment I give up and allow my fear and desperation to surface is when people start dying."

Another bout of sobs hit the night elf, "But what can we hope to do against an elemental lord?"

"We are not fighting Rangaros," Lightning interrupted, "If the plan I have been told is correct then all we need to do is have this Majordomo summon Ragnaros and then immediately use the Bindings of the Windseeker to banish him back to the Firelands."

Calion walked forward and motioned for everyone to gather around him, "Ok. Here is how we are going to capture the Majordomo…"

* * *

...

* * *

**3 HOURS AGO**

Majordomo Executus, second in command to Ragnaros, looked up the five mortals in front of him with disgust. He could hardly believe that this exhausted group of mortals was capable of fighting their way through his lord's domain and dousing the runes of warding. While it was possible for the four flamewalker captains to have fallen, they were overconfident and prone to fits of jealousy after all, to have destroyed the rest of the rune guardians was impossible!

Swallowing his trepidation Executus's voice echoed outwards, **"You have done well dousing the runes of warding and drawing me out. I can honestly say that I find your strength and tenacity admirable to say the least but all good things must come to an end. Your incursion ends here!"**

Lightning bit on the inside of her cheek to help control her nerves, the flamewalker in front of her was almost twice as tall as any other she encountered and if that wasn't bad enough there were eight others behind the Majordomo sneering and snarling at her. Narrowing her eyes she stepped forward past Marcus, who was gripping his hammer nervously.

"Perhaps we can be civil about this. You haven't attacked us after all."

"What are you doing?" Marcus looked livid at Lightning.

"Shut it," she hissed back, "If compromising with him can save the rest of us from dying I'm willing to do so."

"**A mortal with a shred of intelligence. How fascinating…what makes you think I'm willing to do anything but have my minions kill you?**

"You honestly don't know?" she asked incredulously, "Let me put it into simple words so you can understand. You claim to be able to fight us without much effort but you were hidden away by your runes while your minions were slaughtered by us. If you were really as strong as you say you would have no reason to hide."

"**Why you-"**

"Quiet! I am not finished," she shouted, "You are a coward of the highest degree. The only reason you keep your position and life is because you are intelligent enough to know you would lose in a straight fight with many of the opponents I killed today. I know for a fact that if you were to fight Golemagg by yourself you would die within moment."

As Lightning deconstructed Executus, Freja whispered to Calion, "What is she doing?"

The night elf did not look at her since he was too busy pinching the bridge of his nose with his hand, "Going off on her own but somehow winning the battle."

Marcus took a careful step back and whispered over his shoulder, "How is this a battle?"

While the three of them whispered Lightning continued her tirade by pulling out her gunblade and pointing the muzzle at several of the flamewalkers around Executus, "And you do not even have the honor to face us alone. The other flamewalkers I have faced did not threaten to send their minions after us while standing back. The Sulfuron Harbinger led his followers into battle against us and was the last to fall only because he was that strong but you are nothing like him."

She looked at each of the flamewalkers around Executus and noticed that several of them weren't looking so sure anymore. Capitalizing on that she shifted the focus of her anger towards them, "You are willing to die for your Majordomo but is he willing to fight in the first place? There is no shame in protecting the weak but to die for a coward, someone who throws away a life so that they may live, is useless."

"**Enough!"** Executus yelled and Lightning was mildly surprised to see a pillar of fire erupt behind him, **"I will not stand for your slander anymore! Kill them all minions but leave the woman for last. I want to make her suffering so legendary that no one will ever think about mocking me again!"**

Lightning shifted her gunblade to its blade form and prepared herself for battle as the Marcus and the others ran up to help her. However the help was not needed, as the flamewalker minions did not race forward to combat them. Instead of brandishing their weapons or wielding arcane magic they looked at each other and vanished in bursts of flame. Executus was so shocked by the betrayal that he did not notice his hands and body were bound in magical roots until it was too late.

"**What-"**

A fist in his stomach cut him short and he gagged for breath as Lightning removed her hand and shook it to relieve the pain. She did not expect the Majordomo's skin temperature to be about the same as boiling water and her red and burning knuckles are the price she paid.

Placing her Blazefire Saber against Executus's neck she said, "Look at me."

"**How-how did you do that?"**

Lightning cocked her head to the side, "How did I manage to have your minions betray you? It wasn't as if I totally changed their perspective. They probably always had an inkling that you were weaker than you say you are. I simply just opened all the doors you were desperately trying to keep closed."

"Is it our turn to attack?"

Lightning did not take her eyes off of the Majordomo as the three mages and two warlocks came out of hiding.

Calion sighed, "I'm sorry to say that your part in this was not required Grazzle. Lightning decided to just go off and do her own thing."

"Ah, I see," the gnome scratched his chin, "But it worked?"

The rogue groaned, "Yes it worked."

Executus couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could that woman's speech, the same one that turned his brethren against him, have been made up on the spot? It was so elegant, so well said, that it had to have been practiced beforehand!

"**That wasn't your plan?"**

"Our original plan called for my friends and I popping up and blasting you with our magical powers when you attacked," Grazzle said dejectedly.

"Maybe next time Grazzle."

Lightning pointed her gunblade n front of Executus's eyes, "Here is what is going to happen. You are going to summon Ragnaros. You do that and you live. It is that simple."

"**You mortals presume to order me around? What can you do to me that Lord Ragnaros cannot do himself?"**

"I guess you will just have to find out," she answered coldly as she began to stab into him with her gunblade.

"What are you doing Lightning?" Marcus asked as he grabbed her wrist, "We don't condone torture."

"**Stay your attack, mortal. I submit! I submit!"**

Lightning pulled back from the Majordomo and sheathed her gunblade. As Freja released him from her bindings he hissed and said before disappearing, **"I will summon my master. Meet me in his sanctum but be warned. You seek his secrets but you will pay the price for such forbidden knowledge."**

With Executus waiting for them at the sanctum Lightning turned around, "Let's get a move on. We need to get back to the camp and gather the others before going after Ragnaros."

When Lightning vanished down the spiral ramp leading away from the Majordomo's domain the other paladin, a dwarf, turned to Marcus and said, "That lady is scary as hell."

"You have no idea Thordin," Calion groaned.

One of the warlocks, a human woman by the name of Priya, looked at Grazzle, "How did you put up with her for four days?"

"I can hear you."

Grazzle let out a gnomish chuckle, "It wasn't easy. The woman's like a raging storm. I half expected her to slaughter us in our sleep every night."

"I can still hear you!"

* * *

...

* * *

**PRESENT TIME**

"_It all went downhill after the Majordomo summoned Ragnaros. I should have seen this coming…"_

Her eyes fluttered open as a cool sensation flowed through her body, reducing the amount of pain she felt. As Lightning's vision focused she saw that Merrani has her hands pressed against her stomach and was focusing her healing magic through her body.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

The priest looked relieved that Lightning was still able to speak, "Saving your life."

Lightning's eyes drifted down and saw just how exhausted Merrani must be. Her once pristine white robes were now covering in blood with large patches burnt beyond recognition.

"You don't need to heal me. I'm fine." She tried to stand up to prove it but only managed to fall down.

Merrani flinched as Ragnaros raging in the background and caused the ground to shake, "We need to get you back to the camp with the others."

A spark of hope blossomed in her chest, _"Some of the others survived?"_Gripping the wall behind her and gritting her teeth, Lightning forced herself onto her feet, "How many survived the attack?"

"Apart from us only five others managed to get out. Calion and Marcus were far enough away from Ragnaros that when he attacked they were able to flee, Grazzle grabbed Priya and teleported them to the camp just as a wave of lava overwhelmed them, and I think Thordin got lucky when Ragnaros threw him through the air. He managed to activate Divine Intervention before he hit the wall like you did."

She motioned with her head towards Sophia's prone form nearby, "I think Sophia may still be alive."

Merrani turned and rushed over to the paladin and began working overtime to heal the woman; "She is not going to make it without medical assistance. I may be able to heal internal injuries but I cannot do anything for the extensive burns she had. We need to get her back to camp and out of this place if she is going to have a chance to survive."

Lightning panted as her injuries caught up with her. All she wanted to do at the moment was lie down and go to sleep but she had a job to do. Stumbling forward she managed to walk over to Merrani and grabbed the bag with the Bindings of the Windseeker. Pulling out the artifact she tucked it behind her back and moved towards Ragnaros's chambers.

"_I have to finish this. There won't be another chance."_

"Where are you going Lightning? You're not fully healed yet!"

"I'm doing," she mumbled as she coughed up some blood, "What needs to be done."

"But you won't make it back alive if you go!"

"I was living on borrowed time Merrani. If doing this saves this world, then I think I can live with that."

Lightning ignored any further pleas to stop as she shuffled into the firelord's chambers. Ragnaros seemed to have calmed down somewhat after his initial attacks and was drawing something out of the lava around him but she knew whatever it was it couldn't be good. The firelord's head perked up when he noticed her presence and turned towards her. When he recognized her he let out a mocking laugh that dripped lava from his mouth to the ground.

"**SO THE SPECIAL MORTAL HAS DECIDED TO RETURN TO HER DEATH?"**

"_I need just a little more time to get within range."_

"What do you mean by that?" she asked as she slowly moved forward.

"**AHAHAHA! THE MORTAL HAS NO IDEA OF THE BLESSING SHE WAS GIVEN. I MAY NOT KNOW WHAT BEING THOUGHT TO BLESS YOU BUT I CAN FEEL AN INTOXICATINGLY POWERFUL MAGIC LURKING WITHIN YOUR SOUL."**

"_The dragon yesterday shouted something about a special type of magic? Could it have sensed my l'Cie brand?"_

"**I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ARE SPECIAL BUT SINCE YOU CAME BACK AND SAVED ME THE TROUBLE OF HUNTING YOU DOWN I HAVE DECIDED TO IMPART TO YOU A RARE GIFT."**

"_Just a little closer…"_

"Gift you say?

"**YES, YOU'RE DEATH WILL BE QUICK AND PAINLESS. THAT IS MY GIFT TO YOU."**

"I do appreciate the gift," she barely whispered as her shaking arms came around from behind her, "But I don't think it would be proper to not give you a gift in return."

Ragnaros's eyes widened as he recognized the object held in her hands. Attempting to stop what was about to happen he reached forward with one of his hands to grab Lightning but was stunned when a translucent barrier shimmered into existence around her. Roaring in rage he swung his mace down onto the barrier several times but even that wasn't enough to harm Lightning or put a stop to the activated spell. Deciding that fleeing was preferable to being exiled back to the Firelands Ragnaros was stopped when an enormous gust of wind shot out of the barrier and broke his concentration.

"**WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?"**

Lightning's vision was already fading to black as she collapsed to her knees, she was feeling more exhausted by the second and the blood streaming out of her mouth was not helping. As the Bindings of the Windseeker floated out of her hands she fell forward onto the ground. Looking up she noticed a swirling portal had appeared beneath Ragnaros and was slowly pulling him in.

The firelord dug his clawed fingers into the surrounding rocks to forestall his banishment back to the Firelands but he found that it was not enough. Just before he disappeared he gave Lightning a warning, ** "I WILL RETURN SOMEDAY WOMAN AND WHEN I DO I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN PERSONALLY."**

When Ragnaros was fully banished Lightning finally decided to allow the darkness to take her. She took solace that her last thoughts were of her sister and, to her dismay, Snow.

"_I can see you Serah and you are happy. I…do not care that that man is with you because I no longer can be. As long as he treats you right and makes every day a joy for you…I can accept him as your husband."_

"_Goodbye Serah…"_


End file.
